I've run across this problem in the past but never as bad as it is right now.
We've modeled a building to scale which is the size of a city block.
What's the best way to give a sense of mammoth scale without putting people in the building?
The outside shots are fine but once the camera is inside... it looks small. This building has hundreds of columns inside that are 6 feet wide with 20 feet between them... but once the camera is inside they look much smaller. I've tried using different camera settings (8mm to 50mm) with out much luck. I thought about scaling the model along the x and z to fake it but the client wants it to scale. Also, there are no textures in the building, it's grayscale.
Does anyone have a solution to this common problem?
Thanks.

monsoon3d

12-16-2004, 11:48 PM

you cannot realize what is big, if you donīt have something smaller next to it to compare.
you should put some elements or objects inside with a "natural" normal size that our brain can identify and realize how much bigger everything else is. imagine your bedroom with everything in it (at their normal place) - but with much taller walls.

but this wonīt work e.g. with pillars, as we have seen lot of different sizes of them and most of them ARE tall.

try to play with these elements that you are allowed to. are their any stairs ? maybe doors ? elevators ?
these things for example might let your inner eye see a human for comparing, cause the depth of a stair doesnīt change too much . sure, if a step would be 1 meter high - sorry,this is metric :) - itīs not a stair any more, cause you would have to climb.

even your image-composition (not meaning compositing) can give some impressions.
a picture, whoīs elements fillout the corners and edges, gives you a feeling of something
closed. e.g. if you have a room looking straight at it , and you see both walls on left and right side then this room looks narrow. this is because you see the starting and ending of the wall and with it of the room.

but if you see only the left side wall and to the right your room goes out of the picture, then it means, that you are only looking at a corner of something bigger than you can see.

your focal lenght of the camera should be on normal lenght. you can play with it but never overdo it. too small would make the viewer feel shrunk, too large would kill the optical distorsion.

well, i hope this can give you some inspiration.

-t-

johnnyh66

12-17-2004, 03:35 PM

Thanks monsoon, I appreciated your comments.

I'm not sure what we're going to do with it... we need client approval before adding anything extra into the building. I was thinking of using some depth of field if nothing else.

AlecMoody

12-17-2004, 03:42 PM

might also try moving the camera closer to the floor. That plus some furniture or other recognizable objects ought to do it.

Also, how tall are the door ways? If they are a normal size then it would probably help to have them in the images.

johnnyh66

12-17-2004, 03:49 PM

well, it's tough to see the doors in most shots because the columns are in the way. I'm actually thinking maybe we can insert a forklift, have to get approval first.

monsoon3d

12-17-2004, 05:44 PM

mh...donīt know if this will do, but maybe you can work with lights and shadows ,too.
e.g. lighten the base floor and let the light fade off going more up towards the ceiling.
or the other way -> top floors are lit well (as much light comes through the window) and bottom floors are lit weak.
if the doors are covered by columns they could be slightly open and cast a soft shadow on the floor that has a recognizable origin.

using depth of field could be good, but iīm wondering if the costumer is fine with it, if he canīt
see everything on the picture clear enough. it could work, if you have enough rendered images where you have at least every part of the building clearly visible.

try moving the camera around, so the vanishing points can cross inside the image. that would give the image a good depth and guide the lines (in this point the walls and columns) outside the scope.

-t-

JussiJ

12-23-2004, 08:18 PM

Thanks monsoon, I appreciated your comments.

I'm not sure what we're going to do with it... we need client approval before adding anything extra into the building. I was thinking of using some depth of field if nothing else.
I usually make things look smaller with dof, but it might work. Let's say that the focus point is on the relevant stuff like the columns and the background and the blurred part being the floor right in front of the camera (camera obivosly beign near the floor). Anyways I'm just guessing here.

Lukas

01-02-2005, 02:27 AM

johnnyh66 i think the best way to the size of the building is changeing the perspective, it allways works and put the camera very low so it looks almost straight up.

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